Teac SR 100i HiFi unit 2010

 

If it has a 'space age' look then it ticks all the boxes for me. Found this on-line going fairly cheap as original cost was around £250, but like all tech with PC's inside the value falls rapidly with age. This one though is one to watch as the sound is superb for something that is only 24 inches wide.

the repair

It was sold as working and technically it was, but like all my finds there was a hidden problem. After running for a short time I noticed a intermittent squealing noise coming from the rear. It seamed worse if you increased the volume. At first I thought it might be the loading motor for the CD player not switching off, but after stripping it all down it became clear that the sounds were coming from the computer cooling fan. I ordered one on-line UK seller £2.10 (5v 150 mA) 5 cm square. The plug was smaller but I edited the cable to make fit. There are 3 vent holes on the cabinet, you see them after removing the speaker cloth grilles (not an easy job, they stick with age - care not the crack front) yes the holes; one is the fan vent and the other two let the rear sound out from the speakers. The speaker boxes are moulded at factory an no access is given to them. Sadly the fan was just out of reach and about 20 screws had to be removed to get at it. Power supply pulls out and a plug release it and the CD unit pulls out after you release the control cable plug.

The unit has a draw release that you can attach an early iPlayer to and a mini USB socket is also given to load songs from a stick. One drawback is the track selection is just up or down, numbers can't be fed in, so track 50, need 50 pushes of the track up key on remote. But for the price I found it for it's good enough for me.

A short video showing the fan and the inside of the chassis. Well worth saving for a space age generation.